A Digital Photographer's Guide to Model Releases: Making the Best Business Decisions with Your Photos of People, Places and Things

by Dan Heller and Jean Pierre Hourdebaigt

Do you need a release for a photo of someone you took in public? How about photos of buildings? Does it make a difference if the subject was paid to be in the picture? You can't answer these questions without more information. As the photographer, you need to understand your buyer's concerns in order to make savvy decisions about how you market your photos and to whom. Here's how to make money from all your photos, whether or not they have releases,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0470228563
• ISBN13: 9780470228562
• Release Date: March 2008
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
• Length: 279 Pages
• Weight: 2.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Well illustrated, nice photos, meaningful up to date, insightful idea and information

Strengths: Comprehensive information about model releases. Full color and additional hints abound through the book. Excellent model photographs highlight nice examples. Vertical tabs at the side of each page highlight main part of the section. Nice yellow like sticky notes are strategically placed throughout the book and the pages, to portray tips and highlight specific concerns or ideas that are relevant to the chapter/ pages or text. Weaknesses: None Introduction Taking photos of people, places and many types of visuals, for publication, is commonplace. However in many lines of work, the necessity and use of model release forms is misunderstood, to say the least. Sometimes the nuances are not quite understood or well defined in many cases, by photographers or the places of business themselves. The book Model Releases: A digital Photographer's Guide, helps to clarify the meaning of much of the process and update advanced in print media and more in recent years. The author has been a freelance photographer and photo industry analyst. His works have been featured in publicaiotns from news and business media to fine arts books. This book is the result of over five years of his research to model releases. He is well versed in the changing trends that have transformed books, the press, music and much more, in recent years. His knowlege is transmitted to this book in a very readable and understandable way. The seven part book covers a wide range of important topics within its 288 pages. The titles of the parts of the book highlight the necessity of model releases. These are : Everyone's doing it ; So what's wrong; What's a model release ; Understanding "use"; Analyzing the need for a model release; Dealing with photos of property; The business of Licensing. The book makes it much easier to clarify when releases are needed and not needed. What buyers need in the way of model releases, and those who don't need releases are summarized. Also included is information for marketing and licensing all your photos, whether they have been released or not. Also the author does the best he can in accumulating years of information and distilling helpful information in one book. The book is relevant to those in the United States and abroad. The author helps to define in clear terms, what should be initiated and followed through, under many situations and circumstances. He is clear and concise so that misinformation does not occur and clarity of the releases are understood. The well illustrated text is a very comprehensive book available on the subject, covering everything you would to know about model releases. The releases pertain to people, places and additional circumstances. Much has changes in light of a photographer's role in the creation of photographs that may be uses on or in conjunction with the internet, with digital photography. newspapers, books and magazines. Conclusions This important book is both insightful and a pleasure to r

A curmudgeons view of a great book

I have just finished reading Dan Heller's "A Digital Photographer's Guide to Model Releases" from cover to cover. There's no question it is a great book and if you are interested in really LEARNING about model releases I would recommend you buy it. If you're just looking for a quick answer, however, this is not the book. In the entire 279 pages there is only ONE (1) sample model release form and it is a very basic, simple one. Instead the book is divided into chapters that deal with various aspects of the issues such as: "What's a Model Release?", "Understanding 'Use'", "Analyzing the need for a model release", "Dissecting a model release" (and, no, you can't get the full benefit from this chapter without reading the rest of the bok), "Dealing with photos of property", and "The business of licensing". Yes, the book is indexed. I found it to be well-written and easy to understand. Mr. Heller writes in normal everyday language and not in legal mumbo jumbo. His presentation is clear and well organized. A minor nitpick - he must have gotten tired as he got near the end as I noticed several grammatical errors and typos seem to have snuck into the later chapters. No matter. They didn't obscure his meaning. Mr. Heller makes it clear that he is not a lawyer and is not offering legal advice but is discussing BUSINESS DECISIONS which photographers must confront with respect to their photographs. Nonetheless, he presents a great deal of information about the laws as well about the business of photography. The book contains what seem like hundreds of photos (I didn't count them.) While a number of them could be construed as being examples of the issue being discussed (such as people in public places, buildings, homes, etc.) very few of them are actually referred to in the text. I would have found it more helpful if the author had actually captioned each photo stating whether or not he had obtained a model release for it and why he had chosen to do so or not. Otherwise they are not much more than pretty pictures (and fine ones they are!) which contribute only slightly to the purpose of the book. I am very glad I bought the book. I doubt that there is a better reference on the subject. I feel like I have a much better understanding of the subject (though I would probably benefit from reading the book a second time to pick up nuances I missed the first time.) I still don't feel as if I know all the answers and perhaps that means the author has achieved his goal. I'm now aware that there are no simple answers but only trade-offs to be considered in an informed way.

Most complete discussion of model releases I have read

No question that this is the most usable and understandable discussion of model releases as it relates to photographers. A couple of years ago I went to the library with questions about property releases and took out well over a dozen books on photography and the law and photography business. Almost all talked about model releases (for people) and several also had property release examples, but only ONE BOOK said anything at all about property releases and it was only about a sentence or two. All of my prior reading left me with more questions. This books explains the why so that you can more accurately make decisions regarding releases.

A wealth of information for the digital photographer interested in making a business out of photogra

Dan Heller's website presents a wealth of information for the digital photographer interested in making a business out of photography, and answers all sorts of questions, in an authoritative way, about model releases, what/where/when can one photo, and how can those images be used by whom. Dan is generous with his information on his website and in personal communications, which helped him perfect his product, in this case his book A Digital Photographer's Guide to Model Releases: Making the Best Business Decisions with Your Photos of People, Places and Things. In some sense I felt I already had all the answers I needed on this topic after reading Dan's material online. But to have it all re-purposed in a logical, complete, consistent vehicle illustrated with many beautiful photos, and crafted for fun reading with humor and post-it-note sidebars and anecdotes... this book is quite simply the definitive guide on the subject. Dan does not simply answer the questions, he explains the reasoning behind the questions and answers so that one can logically apply the "rules" to other situations with confidence. This is the best $20 bill I have parted with in my investment in photography. I would not trade this book for all the others in this category combined. This title will persist for years because its advice is timeless. Like reviewing the basics of any discipline will help any pro, I can't think of one expert in this field who would not benefit from reading this book. Kudos to Dan for a job well-done, from a dedicated fan, Mike Baird

What about non-US photographers?

Since my book on Model Releases has been published, I've been getting lots of email asking whether the book applies to non-US photographers, since I'm American and I cite many US laws. First, I must point out that, while the book does cite a few laws, this is not a legal book--it's a business book. Making smart business decisions (such as whether to make money or to avoid risk) requires more than just the knowledge of "law." This is especially the case for all of the laws that apply when model releases would be applied, regardless of whose laws or what country. What's more important is that you understand the principles and concepts behind what the various laws are intended to protect. Never are there conditions so cut and dried that all you needed to know is the letter of the law and your decision-making is done. That's why this is a business book--I examine (and explain) the legal analysis and intent behind the scenes so you can make appropriate financial risk-assessment decisions on a case-by-case basis. Now, as for why US laws are so critical here, let's begin by understanding the role of international trade and globalization. Whether intentional or not, many more marketing materials companies use end up "landing" in the US somewhere, somehow, in such a way that US laws could be triggered. For example, say your local Canadian bank licenses one of your photos of a farmer in Alberta. If they use it for ads it places on google adwords, and the bank targets customers that also reside in the US, then that farmer could have a claim in US courts for the use of his photo without a release. This is because the bank is said to have "reach" into the US because it is considered to be conducting business there. Hence, that aspect of its business that it's doing (the ad) is subject to US laws. It is not uncommon for non-US entities to file claims in US courts under US laws, even though none of the parties involved may be US citizens. The book gets into details about how and why all this works. The larger point is that photographers that license images are more likely than not to be selling to clients who could have this very kind of exposure. Making matters worse is that the US has some of the most punitive laws, where damages are very high. This all adds up to very paranoid companies that want extra protection before they license any old picture of a farmer. Indeed, anyone that does any kind of international business at all will be very cognizant of US laws, and may only license images that have releases that satisfy US laws. Of course, it's true that a local German company that sells local beer to a limited geographic region is not going to get called into a US court just because they happen to have a website that has an unreleased photo of someone and that website can be seen in the US. It'd be hard to convince a judge that there's any real "presence" there. So, let's not get carried away with ourselves: not every use of any photo is suddenly su